


Bloody Gryffindor Red

by Mardybambam



Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: Christmas, F/M, Married Life, One Shot, Tumblr Prompt, decorations, family cuteness, family life, pregnant!Hermione
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-12-13
Updated: 2016-12-13
Packaged: 2018-09-08 08:20:18
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,213
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8837383
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Mardybambam/pseuds/Mardybambam
Summary: Imagine person A loves setting up the Christmas tree every year and decorating it perfectly, but recently they broke their leg and it’s really hard to decorate the tree. So instead they sit down and sift through the decorations as person B takes them and hangs them on the tree but it’s such a silly process like “nonono that’s red and it’s too close to another red piece you need to move it” “half of the ornaments are red” “well it’s TOO CLOSE move it to the left”.





	

The air was brisk when Severus left the apothecary, whipping around his body, pulling his robes taut as he walked. He scowls into the darkness as if the wind would be afraid of his scathing looks the same way everyone else was.It was mid-December and there was snow up to Severus’ ankles,making the short walk back to his apartment even longer.Severus despised the snow, his dragonhide boots were waterproof but that didn’t stop his robes becoming damp around the edges, eventually spreading up to knees.

Severus stormed through The Leaky Cauldron, quickly escaping the thick smoke that filled the pub and the wary looks he received from the patrons, barely remembering to transfigure his robes into a long trench coat. Muggle London was a lot busier than its wizarding counterparts, people were swarming the streets,their arms filled with oversized bags, brimming with gifts they were itching to award their loved ones with. Severus had already bought all his gifts, only really having two people he cared enough about to get anything.Since he had retired from teaching he no longer had to buy the customary token gifts but he knew that Minerva and Pomona would be sending their usual packages of quills and parchment, normally topped with either rich biscuits that he never managed to finish before they turned stale or a selection of Honeyduke’s finest that he knew his wife would just demolish. Severus rushed through the crowds, eager to finish his business and get back home to his wife. He had promised her that he would pick up some muggle painkillers and some kind of chocolate called a twice decked or something. She had broken her leg the week before, Severus had been gone for a few minutes at most but when he returned she was curled on the floor, one hand clutching her growing stomach and the other against her mouth in an attempt to stifle the screams she had let loose. Normally a broken leg would be short work for Severus but the mediwitch at St.Mungo’s had insisted that any magic could cause some kind of damage to the baby so Hermione has been hobbling her way around their apartment for longer than she would have liked.

Severus took long strides, walking into the Tesco Express near his home. The woman behind the counter, Olivia, had gotten used to the tall shadow of a man acting as of he owned the place, she had even become to enjoy his sarcastic comments. Today was the first time he had entered the store on his own, though, normally he would be shadowed by a cheerful woman who seemed to always wear a large smile. It was refreshing to see such a clearly in love couple, the man was still made of darkness and smirks that seemed to ooze self-satisfaction but every know and then he could be caught with his gaze focused on his young companion and people would be able to see the anger in his eyes seemed to melt away, his fences would disappear, almost as if they were sharing one mind.

Severus stormed through the store, three different packs of painkillers in the hand and a multipack of…nothing. There was nothing there with the name twice decked, Severus stared at the chocolate shelves for a couple minutes and it caught his eye and he sighed as his own stupidity, __Double Decker you buffoon.__ He quickly paid and span back into the cold, ignoring the cashier's comment, as always. He could apparate home now but it was only a five-minute walk and he didn’t want to startle Hermione, knowing that by now she would be curled up on the sofa, a thick knitted blanket on her lap and a book nestled in her hands. She was currently reading about the 16th-century metamorphmagus hunts, she would spend weeks learning everything she could about one topic and then switching to the next, she had read hundreds of books since she went on maternity leave, none of which had anything to do with babies. Not saying they didn’t own any baby books, there was a whole bookshelf in their study dedicated to it but neither of them could bring themselves to read any. Reading about babies would make it that much more real that they would be having one of their own and Severus, for one, knew that he was yet to accept that he was really allowed to have this much happiness in his life.

He stared up at his home. They shared the building with four other families, each apartment had two floors, so there was plenty of space in the building itself, and with the several expanding charms they had placed on their study, there was no way that they would run out of room to put their most prized possessions.Their books. Severus’ apartment had two bedrooms on the second floor, both with their own bathrooms. The main area of the apartment was open plan, the dining room, kitchen and study all flowing easily, their sitting room was separate, just the way Severus liked it. Their sitting room was their private space, where they would spend their evenings together and unwind from their long days.

Deciding that he had spent enough time staring at those blasted floral curtains that the love of his life had bought, despite his obvious hatred for the ugly things, he made his way upstairs. He searched his coat, knowing that his key had to be there somewhere, muttering a string of curses when he realises he left it in his work office he quickly checks his surroundings before casting a quiet alohamora.

‘Its only me’ Severus raises his voice. Last time he had forgotten his key he had almost lost a limb with a well-aimed curse, ‘I got your painkillers’ He could just barely hear a groan in response and chuckled deeply, ‘and your chocolate’

There was the thump of a heavy blanket hitting the wooden floor and the scratching of Hermione’s metal crutch against the floor. The door to the sitting room flew open and there she stood. Her eyes grew with her barely concealed glee when she saw the chocolate Severus still nestled in his hand.She maneuvered herself as fast as she could towards her husband, one hand reaching forward ready to satisfy a craving that hit over forty minutes ago.

‘Nuh uh’ Severus shakes his head slightly, retracting his hand from her grasp, ‘take something for the pain first then we will have dinner’

The glare he received would have made a weaker man give up but he stood his ground knowing full well that she had not eaten anything since he stopped by for lunch. After a few moments, Hermione realised that he wasn’t going to give in and nodded gravely as if he had asked her to cut off her little toe or something equally awful.

Hermione sat at the breakfast bar, her feet inches off the floor, and watched her husband prepare dinner. He still moved with focused determination as if the pasta on boil was a new batch of wolfsbane or a blood replenishing potion. His eyes stayed focused on his wife as he chopped vegetables on the other side of the counter, as he made a sauce and as he served it to her. His stare did not lift until he was sure that Hermione was eating, he then focused his attentions on his own dinner.

They ate in silence, Hermione shooting playful glares at her husband whenever he looked at her, Severus simply smirking in response. Finally, they were finished and he awarded her with __one__ chocolate bar. Her large grin caused a small smile to appear on Severus’ face, something so rare but when it happened it warmed her heart and made her joy grow tenfold.

‘Thank you Sevvy’ She jested, knowing his hatred for the nickname. Taking him by the hand she led him into the sitting room, ‘Harry brought something over for me today’

Severus nodded slowly, his brain too occupied with the view of his wife’s superior posterior to comprehend her words.

‘Severus’

‘Yes’ He flicked his hair out of his eyes, a light flush coming upon his pale skin much like it did when they first met, ‘Potter was here you say’

‘He brought us a tree’ The excitement in her voice was clear. Christmas had always been Hermione’s favourite time of year, the blanket of snow and the unanimous feel of cheer had made Hermione feel at home no matter where she was, either at home with her parents, at Hogwarts or, in the most recent years, with Severus. When she was a child her family would wake up early on the first day of December so they could go out and choose a Christmas tree and her father would chop it down, lumbering it on top of their estate car and while Hermione and her mother baked cinnamon cookies her father would set the tree in a large red pot, in the centre of their sitting room window. The next three hours would be spent decorating the tree with various baubles and lights until it looked just as beautiful as the one in the town centre, That night Hermione’s parents would invite all their friends around and host a party with jaw-dropping gowns and classical music. Hermione had not missed the parties but she had missed decorating the tree and she was very upset that she would not be able to decorate the tree herself.

‘Well wasn’t that nice of him’ Severus rolls his eyes but made a mental note to thank the boy, he knew how much it meant to Hermione.

‘Yes it was wasn’t it’ Hermione settles on the sofa, pulling her blanket back up her legs, ‘and he even got the decorations out of the attic for you’

He settled in his armchair, stretching his legs out and leaning back. The tree stood next to the fireplace, bare except for the fairy lights that were wrapped around the trunk, ‘You haven’t put them on yet’

‘Well Healer Lorna said that I shouldn’t be putting pressure on my leg’ She flashes a look that makes Severus weak at the knees, all wide-eyed and innocent. He would remove his right arm if she asked with that look, ‘Could you do it for me?’

‘You may not be able to walk but your wand hand still works doesn’t it’ He raises one eyebrow, knowing exactly what she was going to ask.

‘Its just not very Christmasy is it, using a wand to decorate’ She shakes her curls, picking up her book. She must have finished her research of metamorphmagus’ because she had a different book nestled in her lap, one from __that__  shelf in the study, __‘200 charming names for your little witch or wizard’__. ‘Please Severus’

He made a show of complaining and rolling his eyes but ultimately agreed to his wife's request. He shed himself of his outer clothes so he was only dressed in a shirt and his work trousers and set to work. He made quick work of threading the blasted lights through the branches and separating the decorations by colour and size, per Hermione’s demand.

‘No’ Hermione shook her head, ‘no no no, that is too close to the other red’

‘Hermione my love’ Severus lilted, trying in vain to conceal his irritation, ‘half of the bloody ornaments are red. No matter where I put it, there will be another red one close by’

‘Well, that one is too close!’ She furrowed her eyebrows,eyes narrowed in annoyance. ‘Move it to the left’

‘Hermione you are bei-’

‘Severus. Move it.’ The finality in her voice made him nod in defeat, moving the _red_ ornament an inch to the left so it was further from that _red_ ornament but was now closer to that _red_ ornament.Severus wore a deep scowl, his sitting room had become full with bloody _Gryffindor_ red.The room was once again filled with comfortable silence, just the way Severus liked it. Until his beautiful, wonderful, infuriating wife began chirping nervously, a lip in between her teeth and one hand pulling her springy curls taut.

‘Spit it out’

‘I’ve chosen names.’She said quickly. Avoiding his eyes she continued even faster. ‘I have one for each gender but I don’t know if you will like them but I really do and I can’t find anything else I like’

‘Relax Hermione’ He sunk next to her, ‘tell me’

‘Allisia Eileen Snape’ He gripped her hand tight when he heard his mothers name, ‘or Sterlyn Prince Snape’

Severus’ eyes grew wide and he nodded mutely, silently giving his approval for the oh so perfect names. Hermione understood his gaze and grinned wide, running her hands through his glossy hair. She placed a kiss on his forehead and he continued to stare at her belly, it took a while for Hermione to realise that he was talking to her bump.

‘I may not be the best father in the world but I am going to try my hardest little one.I did not have a loving father but I intend to be one to you’


End file.
